Slow progress on food security sparks concerns

President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency on food security in July 2023, operationalised through trade and infrastructure policy frameworks. But given the recent slight growth statistics, the agriculture sector appears to be responding slowly to these efforts, giving rise to calls for close monitoring from industry leaders, ARINZE NWAFOR writes

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s agriculture sector have called on the Federal Government to step up its food security strategy by addressing critical gaps in policy implementation, credit access, and sector monitoring, as new Gross Domestic Product figures reveal a concerning slowdown in the sector’s growth.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s agricultural sector grew year-on-year by only 0.07 per cent in real terms in the first quarter of 2025. This reflects a marginal increase of 1.85 percentage points compared to Q1 2024 but a significant decrease of 2.48 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2024, which posted a 2.54 per cent growth rate.

Despite being a major contributor to national output, the sector’s contribution to aggregate GDP in Q1 2025 stood at 23.33 per cent, lower than the 24.04 per cent recorded in Q1 2024 and the 28.68 per cent recorded in Q4 2024. The agriculture sector comprises four sub-activities: crop production, livestock, forestry, and fishing, all of which have faced productivity and structural constraints in recent quarters.

The poor growth performance has sparked renewed concern among stakeholders, especially given the backdrop of surging food prices, worsening insecurity, and rising operational costs for farmers. Several experts and industry groups have warned that unless the Federal Government improves sector monitoring and aligns its interventions with real needs on the ground, food insecurity will deepen further and the sector’s recovery could stall.

The calls come weeks after President Bola Tinubu flagged off the Renewed Hope Agricultural Mechanisation Programme with the commissioning of 2,000 tractors and implements for nationwide deployment. The equipment, meant to support smallholder farmers through a service-provider model, is expected to reduce manual labour, increase yields, and modernise farming practices.

These stakeholders argue that deployment alone is not enough. In separate interviews with The PUNCH and press statements, they observe a lack of structured monitoring, transparency, and engagement that risks any tangible progress.

Government must move from intention to implementation

Chairman of the Agricultural and Allied Trade Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Tunde Banjoko, noted that Nigeria’s agriculture policy space is saturated with grand plans and bold announcements, but little follow-through.

“We now need to move from talking to implementation to execution,” he said. “The tractors have been bought, about 2,000. But where are the tractors? Have they been given out? Have people started using them? Have they impacted our cost of operations?”

Banjoko argued that independent, non-political stakeholders must lead the proper monitoring and evaluation of such initiatives, echoing the stakeholder engagement model of the African Development Bank.

He criticised the politicisation of agricultural programmes, saying the real beneficiaries, ordinary farmers, are often left in the dark. “Some sectors of the economy where probably the ministers are non-politicians seem to be doing more because they are concentrating on the work, not on satisfying their godfather, considering being reappointed to their office. We now need to start asking: are these funds being diverted? Why are they not making an impact? There’s no monitoring, there’s no evaluation,” he lamented.

Banjoko stressed that a disconnect exists between agricultural institutions and the public. “We have several research institutions. Nobody is engaging the public. We need more engagement, not just with high-level agencies, but with the farmers, community leaders, and traders.”

Agribusinesses demand improved credit

Another major issue raised by stakeholders is access to credit. Despite efforts to recapitalise the Bank of Agriculture, sector players say farmers are still unable to access affordable loans.

In June, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, announced the recapitalisation of the Bank of Agriculture with N1.5tn to support farmers nationwide, representing one of the largest investments in the country’s agricultural sector. Kyari pledged N200bn to direct agricultural sector interventions. This intervention is not cascading to the grassroots, according to the LCCI agriculture and allied trade chairman.

“The government talked about recapitalising the Bank of Agriculture in the first quarter of 2025,” Banjoko recalled.

“This is the third quarter now, and we are not seeing the signs that it has been recapitalised. They appointed a new Managing Director, but the board is not fully in place. And when will they fund the bank to be able to fund agriculture?”

He added that commercial lending rates remain prohibitively high, remarking, “If banks are giving commercial loans at 29, 30, or even 34 per cent interest to farmers, who will be interested in agriculture?”

Chairperson of the Coalition of NGOs in Agriculture and Sustainable Development, Rosemary Effiong, shared a similar concern. She said that although the Bank of Agriculture had recently undergone recapitalisation, many institutions were unprepared for its operational rollout.Effiong, speaking at a multi-stakeholder forum on the federal agric budget in Lagos, said, “We believe we are going to follow up with them in terms of reviewing their loan cap, the limits. It’s a policy issue, not something that will change overnight, but it must reflect current economic realities.”

She urged the Federal Government to support farmers with low-interest financing to cushion them from inflation and promote sustainable food production.

Civil society to monitor tractor use

The Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu, speaking at the multi-stakeholder forum on the federal agric budget, endorsed the Federal Government’s move to install tracking systems on the newly procured tractors. However, he noted that civil society must play a frontline role in ensuring that transparency is achieved.

Mamedu noted, “As civil society, we are keen to engage with the relevant ministry to be plugged into the trackers. Citizens should be able to see where the tractors are working at every point in time and who got what.”

He disclosed that ActionAid Nigeria is collaborating with the Small-scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria, which has a presence in all 774 local government areas, to track the distribution and usage of the tractors.

“SWOFON members will physically verify the information we see on the tracker dashboard. Every six months, we will report on the state of the tractors and what they have achieved,” Mamedu added.

SAPZ market linkages can boost sustainable production

Stakeholders also called on the government to scale up Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones, an initiative launched in partnership with the African Development Bank.

According to the LCCI Agric and Allied Trade Chairman, Banjoko, the ongoing SAPZ project offers a clear pathway for integrating smallholder farmers into the agricultural value chain. The groundbreaking of SAPZ happened in Kaduna and Cross River in April and in Oyo State on August 2.

Banjoko explained, “With SAPZ, farmers have ready markets for their products at good prices. Processors, on the other hand, can run their factories all year round. Some of these factories need 100 tonnes of cassava daily but are only getting 20 or 30 tonnes. That’s changing now.”

He added that the SAPZ model also supports market access, a perennial challenge for agricultural processors, adding, “Some processors struggle to push out their products. I think that has been captured too in the SAPZ model.”

Banjoko urged all states to key into the programme and abandon token empowerment schemes. “Agriculture should not be reduced to ‘give them two bars of cassava and two rice seedlings.’ We must move to a model that is sustainable and profitable.”

Vibrant economy requires working food system

A thriving economy hinges on the tangible growth of the food sector. Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, highlighted the importance of tackling insecurity in farming communities and transport challenges.

He stated, “The government must consider the need to support the development of the real sector of the economy, especially the manufacturing and agricultural sectors, to aid the effectiveness of stabilisation policy.”

Ajayi-Kadir also urged the government to introduce income redistribution policies to increase citizens’ welfare and improve economic performance. He warned that the manufacturing sector cannot operate effectively if the agriculture sector continues to lag. “Boosting agricultural production will also ease pressure on food inflation,” he added.

Stakeholders want measurable outcomes

While President Tinubu’s administration has declared a renaissance in agriculture, stakeholders insist that meaningful change requires moving beyond slogans to measurable outcomes. Mechanisation must be matched with credible monitoring, funding must be accessible, and policies must be backed with action and transparency.

With GDP data pointing to slowed growth and declining sector contributions, stakeholders’ calls for urgent reforms are growing louder.

Nigeria's Food Security Slowdown Sparks Concern | Q1 2025 GD